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which alMufid makes in his kalam. One of the important things alMufid did was to provide a rational substratum for the Imamite faith during the absence of the Imam. He had to meet not only the objections of outsiders but also the demands of believing Shiites for explanation of how what is proposed for belief does not contradict what they already know. I will try, then, (1) to say something about alMufid's own notion of kalam, and (2) then see how he carried it out, and after that (3) compare it with the theological method.
accept along with the doctrine that the Imams were already pure. Or how certain actions of the prophets or the Imams harmonize with their `ismah, for example: if Ali knew what would happen, why did he go to the mosque where he was assassinated, and why did alHusayn go to Kufah?" This leads alMufid to explain more fully what `ismah means and what it does not mean.16 Granted, then that the main purpose of ilm al-kalam is to defend ones doctrine against deniers and enemies, it remains that it also has a secondary function, which is to explain more fully the meaning of the doctrine in order to meet the need of the believer for a fuller understanding of what he believes. I think this second task of kalam looms large in alMufid's work.
revelation is necessary in practice so that these truths can be arrived at by all, more quickly, easily, and certainly and without error being mixed in. For faith, in the theologian's view, is a gift which God offers and man can accept. When he accepts it, it raises him above his own natural powers and enables him to believe not on the strength of proofs, which may or may not be present, but because God says so. What the theologian is trying to do by using his reason with the aid of this gift of faith is to come to some knowledge of God which stands between the knowledge of a child, who simply believes, and the direct knowledge of God which is experienced in love by those who contemplate Him in heaven. 1. Paris: Vrin, 1948. This was translated by Subhi alSalih and Farid Jabr, Falsafat alfikr aldini bayn al-Islam walmasihiyyah, Beirut, Dar al-Ilm lilMalayin, 1969, 3 volumes. 2. Ihya' `ulum aldin, 1, 174, cited in GardetAnawati, p. 71. 3. AlMuqaddimah, 1164, GardetAnawati, p. 309. 4. Tashih al'i'tiqadat, p. 66, M. McDermott, The Theology of alShaikh alMufid, Beirut: Dar ElMachreq, 1978, p. 317. 5. Tashih pp. 267, Theology, p. 315. 6. Tashih, p. 67. 7. Theology, p. 58, citing alKarajaki, Kanz alfawa'id. 8. AlFusul almukhtdrah, p. 78, Theology, p. 243. 9. AlFusul, p. 79, Theology, p. 245. 10. Tashih, p. 28, Theology, p. 316. 11. Awa'il, pp. 1112, Theology, p. 60. 12. Al'Isfah f i imamat Amir alMu'minin, pp. 34, Theology, p. 120. 13. Awa'il, pp. 2425, Theology, p. 156. 14. Awa'il, p. 26, Theology, p. 77. 15. alMasa'il alhajbiyyah, Q.1. 16. alMasa'il alhajbiyyah, Q. 20. 17. Sermon 43, 7, 9.
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